David Edgley, who was managing director of the Bath Chronicle for 15 years, has died suddenly.

David, who was 69, was on holiday in Madeira when he suffered a heart attack while sunbathing. He had suffered a number of previous illnesses, including an earlier heart attack.

He enjoyed a newspaper career spanning almost four decades and started his career as a management trainee with the Merritt and Hatcher newspaper and printing group, working in High Wycombe and Greenwich.

He became chairman and MD of Merritt and Hatcher when it was taken over by Westminster Press in 1968. He then took control of Wessex Newspapers in Bath, the then publishers of the Chronicle.

While he headed the company he saw a great deal of change – the paper began to carry more advertisements, there was a title change, he bought a new full colour press and oversaw the changeover to computer setting.

He opted for early retirement in 1987.

David leaves a widow, two children and five grandchildren.

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